"So, what did you mean, different?"

"Jeez, you're like a dog with a bone, Bones."

"I don't know what that means. Are you calling me a dog because-"
"-Okay, take two on that one- you're like a forensic anthropologist with a bone. Think about it."

She did. Mostly. If she wanted to be completely honest with herself, once or twice she thought about the sensation of his chest moving up and down against her side.

"Oh, you mean I persist until I find the answer. I analyse what's given to me and if I'm not satisfied, I keep searching until I find an answer that fits. Why didn't you just say that?"

Booth's ribcage expanded quickly, then contracted very slowly. She assumed that was all the reply she was going to get.
"So," She tapped his hand again. "What did you mean before?"

"No comment."

"That is so unfair. We should, as partners, be able to tell each other anything."

"In theory."

She shrugged. "Much theory is based on practical application."

"Really."

"Yes, it's a commonly known fact-"

"-I don't actually care, Bones, I was doing that thing people do where they try to be polite."

"Well, you're not very good at it."

He grinned and poked her in the side, making her jump and earning him a scowl.

"Yeah, I am, but I don't have to pretend with you, Bones. We're partners."

"So you can use the 'we're partners' line of reasoning and I can't?"

He pointed at her, warningly. "That is it. Any more out of you and I am not letting you watch any more interrogations."

She ignored both the warning and the pointing finger. "Booth-"

The ride started moving with a jolt, and she clutched at him for a moment as the chair jerked.

Then she remembered she was getting nothing out of Booth tonight.

Generally she didn't have to work this hard, although usually she used logic and reasoning to get what she wanted. If she could make him laugh, it was a good sign, too.

But he sat there, jaw determinedly set, hiding something from her. His partner.

She was upset, and not entirely sure why. Just certain that he was covering up information he didn't trust her with. That stung, after everything she'd been through with him. After everything he'd been through with her.

He sighed as the chair came to a halt on the platform.

"Ah, back to civilization. Wanna go shoot ducks, Bones? On second thought, you and guns. Let's go throw ourselves out a window instead."

Getting off, she stalked towards the candyfloss, not answering. Let him figure it out.

He caught up to her and grabbed her arm.

"Hey, Bones, it was a joke, remember that comical arrangement of words thing we-" He trailed off, studying her.

Eight seconds. He was good. Booth let go of her arm as they stopped in the crowd, creating an island in the chaos of the fair.

He studied her, and she knew he saw the hurt, the anger. He always saw her, no matter how she tried to hide or what walls she put up.

It had started out as highly annoying and had lessened somewhat to vaguely exasperating, now. She knew this was because they had developed a very close, highly complex relationship. She just wasn't sure what to do with that realization.

He let out a deep breath, and glanced heavenward. She would have thought it was a prayer for strength to deal with her, except he suddenly looked…intense.

She couldn't catch her breath. He stepped towards her, and she had the urge to run. Except her feet seemed to be glued to the ground.

"Okay, Bones."

He deliberately pulled her closer; until she could see the conflict and…something else play over his face. Wait. She had seen that look, on other men, but on Booth, seeing that wanting, passionate look play over his face… it was…it was…

The he kissed her, and everything fell away.

The crowd, the lights, the thoughts circling and twisting in her head, they all faded away, until there was only him, and the feel of his mouth on hers.

Then he pulled away, and she just managed to stop herself protesting as that delicious feeling of rightness, of being lost and found at exactly the same time, slid away.

She put her hand over her mouth, staring at him, tasting him still on her lips.

He eyed her uncertainly, searching her face.

Then it clicked. "That's what you meant? Different?"

He threw up his hands, commenting to no one in particular. "Now she gets it."

"Well, you have to admit, it was pretty much out of nowhere…"

He stepped back towards her, and she trailed off, suddenly very aware how sexy his mouth was, and how much shorter she was in comparison to him. And how her coat was definitely far too warm for the season.

"Look, Bones, I just…I can't be afraid, anymore. Since everything with Epps, and Gordon Gordon said…well, Sully left."
He looked at her, hopeful, expectant.

Despite the fact he wielded the newly discovered power to make her knees turn to jello, and despite the fact she knew Booth to be a man to use every weapon at his disposal, she couldn't resist goading him.

She smirked at him. "Booth, you need about eighteen more words to make that a coherent sentence."

He looked annoyed, now. That was good. Better, even.

She could deal with annoyed Booth.

Alluring, kissable, touchable Booth she was having a little trouble processing.

"Bones, for the love of god, can you just-" He suddenly broke off, then threw up his hands in the gesture he generally used for conceding defeat.

She wasn't sure why.

"-React exactly the way you normally would if I wasn't making any sense."

She wasn't in trouble. She supposed she was relieved, although she had no emotional sentiments to back that theory up since most of her feelings were currently tied up in wondering if he would kiss her again.

"Bones, there are some things that are unique, and special, and completely annoying, and always have got to be right about everything, and have to make some comment about my driving every single time we-"

She began to bristle, so he changed tone, as well as tack, to be safe.

"And this thing, this person-she pulls me up when I need to be a cop, and she pulls me up when I don't need to see the world from a Ranger's view, or an FBI agent's standpoint."

He was looking at her, and she forgot the crowds she disliked so much.

There was only him, standing there, telling her this. Giving her this.

And she's funny, and smart, and I would fight for her, with every fibre of my being, every breath in my body, to keep her safe. And I love her."

She kept staring at him. Analysing. Trying so hard to analyse, as half-thoughts and repressed hopes flickered through her mind. Parts of conversations.

The way they bickered, and the way each protected the other, so fiercely, so deeply. The way he caught her up in a look sometimes, and she could feel the air pulse.

The way he felt when they danced, and the way his hand would find her back, to guide her out of a room. All the pieces fitting together to make a whole. Or they would, if she could find the right answer.

"Bones? You did know I was talking about you, right?"

"Why, Booth? Why do you love me?" She knew, down to the marrow of her bones, that he loved her. She'd known, deep down inside, forever. But she needed the words, with the hunger of one who has learned not to trust on emotion alone.

He half-smiled, then looked seriously into her eyes, understanding her request, needing to say it aloud. He would speak this time, and regret all the other times he should have told her, and wouldn't. Couldn't.

"Why, Bones? Because you make perfect sense to me. Because I know you better than I know myself. Because you're the light that guides me home after I'm so lost in darkness I can't even see the line between right and wrong."

He smirked at her, suddenly. "Because you do that weird thing with your mouth when you're thinking. Because you are the truest person I know, even when that means making others uncomfortable. And because you haven't seen one movie that was made in the last decade."

He gestured behind them as they stood in the light cast by the rides.
"Because you ride Ferris Wheels and excel at children's carnival games."

He smiled at her, and gave a slight shrug, as if the answer was simple. And the answer he gave was beautiful in its simplicity.

"Because it's you, Bones."

She kept staring. And considered. Found the answer.

She nodded at him, firmly.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

She took a deep breath. "Okay."

They stood looking at each other, as the fairground spun and glittered around them.

Then, without conscious thought, they moved, and met.

Booth pulled her close, and proceeded to obliterate every coherent thought from her mind, until she sunk into him, drowning, intending never to surface from the sensation of his mouth on hers.

"Bones?" Booth said into her mouth, between kisses.

She dragged her eyes open, trying to remember why that word sounded so familiar. Her mind, her sword and her shield for so long, was simply refusing to work.

Bones. She was Bones.

'Mmm-ngh."

"Bones." He looked at her, head cocked. "Really bad time to bring this up, but…why?"

She smiled at him, understanding, and for the second consecutive time this evening, knowing the answer.

"Because it's you, Booth."

He seemed a little taken aback, but recovered quickly, his smile blooming wickedly, and she made a mental note to tell him to stop doing that because it made her stomach tighten completely of its own accord. Then he kissed her, and every mental note she'd ever made was forgotten.

"Hope you don't have any other plans tonight, Bones, because you're gonna be here a while."

Author's Note: Succumbed. Had to do it. Could not write squint stuff when Brennan and Booth were waiting for me to write them together, goshdarnit. Hope you liked.

Next chapter- Angela, Zach and Hodgins finally get a look-in. Yay! And the aftermath of The Kiss. Es. Kisses.

Thanks again to all those fabulous people who read and review- particularly those have reviewed several times- your continued support is just…Sighs very happily, conveying a general sense of accomplishment and all-is-right-ness with the world…ness. Ciao guys, and have a great week!